The subject matter herein relates generally to cable assemblies for interconnecting communication devices in a communication system and for providing a grounding path between the cable assemblies and the communication devices.
Communication systems include various devices, such as routers, servers, switches, redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAIDs), uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), host bus adapters (HBAs), supercomputers, and the like, may be large complex systems that have a number of components interconnected to one another through different types of cable assemblies. For example, cable backplane (or cable midplane) systems include several daughter card assemblies that are interconnected to one another through cable assemblies. The daughter card assemblies of such systems may also be interconnected with remote components or devices through different types of cable assemblies.
Cable assemblies include electrical cables having multiple conductors, such as insulated wires, that interconnect two or more communication devices. The electrical cable also includes a shielding layer that surrounds the conductors and a protective jacket surrounding the shielding layer. The multiple conductors are terminated to a corresponding electrical contact of a cable connector or directly to an electronic component, such as a printed circuit board, of a communication device via soldering or the like.
The cable assemblies may be mounted to a housing of the communication device, such that the cable extends through a panel in the housing to enter an internal cavity of the housing that includes one or more electronic components therein. For some cable assemblies, the shielding layer of the cable is peeled back from the multiple conductors to engage and electrically connect the cable to an electrically conductive panel of the housing in order to provide a ground path between the cable and the housing. But, the remaining lengths of the conductors within the internal cavity (for example, between the panel and ends of the conductors) are not shielded by the shielding layer, resulting in signal degradation due to increased cross-talk between conductors and/or electromagnetic interference (EMI) from other electronic components within the housing. Furthermore, some cable assemblies are irremovably mounted to the housing of a communication device, such as via soldering or welding. Therefore, it is difficult to substitute one or more cable assemblies that have damaged cables, for example. In other cable assemblies, the shielding layer is not peeled back from the conductors to engage the panel to allow for shielding of the conductors within the housing, but the lack of a ground path from the cable to the housing may result in increased electrical resonance through the cable at certain frequencies.
Accordingly, there is a need for cable assemblies of a communication system that have an improved grounding and shielding of the multiple conductors at a communication device, and are also removably mounted to a housing of the communication device.